Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-11-02
ACCIDENT.

Il u -
rxp,oston OF Giant Powder In the s''
I.vrance Mine-Tw0 Men b'o"n 20
Atoms-Result of the Inquest Exooef-
.t,nr the management.
Last evening at about 8 o'clock the men
working in tine 2OO-foot level Of the o''
"a srence mine we're startled by an expio-
a;on that Jared the timbers. and blew out
the lights in the same level ottheA naconoa'
which ia connected with the st. Lawrence
One a working about 300 feet from Inc
noint at which the explosion occurred, was
hurled back a distance of ten 1eet, anu
thrown violently to the ground. A NUMBER
Of horror.stricken miners hastened to the
place where fifty pounds OF giant powder
had been stored for distribution ana Two
of their comrades, Jeremiah Lynch inc
Daniel O'Brien had just gone to get as up.
plv to carry on their work OF blasting. AZ
first no trace of the unfortunate men could
be found. They were literally
BLOWN TO ATOMS,
and where they had been there was only
some blackened debris. among which a lew
fragments of the men were found. The
only pieces that could be identified were
the scalps, which were found; that OF Lynch
being recognized by the dark hair, ana
O'B:ien's by it's sandy color. A mes
senge was dispatched to snmmon cor.
onerr Amsden, but as he wat
| absent, Judge Hamilton acted as coroner.
A jury wrs smpaneled, and the inquest was
held in the blacksmith shop OF the NINE
| All OF the remains that could be found were
at hand in IL small box. 80 mixed WIFI
| debris that n casual observer would no'
suppose there were any human remains IN
| the box. The awe.stricken miners etood
around in groups conversing In snDoueo
tones, upon the awful calamity that nae
60 suddenly hurled their two unfortunate
comrades into eternity.
As no one was present at the scene OF thu
accident the evidence was purely circum
stantial. Mike Carroll. foreman OF TIN
mine, testified that O'Brien and Lynch
were working on the 2OO.foot level, on thu
day shift, that they had gone to the maya
zine for powder, and that soon after tn
explosion d number Of men arrived on tn
seine and collected the remains, consisting
OF
SMALL PIECES Of FLESH, BONE N HAIR.
Fifty pounds OF giant powder was kept a
that point for distribution on the 2O0-foo
level. O'Brien end Lynch were the onl.
men missing, and it must have been thei
remains that were recovered. Pat Kane
Jerry Cooney, Pat Rafferty,, James Ora
ham, Dan Murphy. Thos. Wall and Wa
Moulder co~rroborated MIR. CAROLS evi
dence and added that they had worked i
a number OF mines and never worked i
one where the management took create
care for the prevention If explosions an
other accidents. The jury returned a ve'
diet that Timothy Lynch and Dani'
O'Brien had come to their death by the al
cidental explosion OF giant powder on tn
2OO.foot level OF the St. Lawrence MINI
that the accident couldn't have bee
averted or guardei against, and
ExoNERATING THE MANAGEMENT
OF the mine from all blame or responsibility
in connection with the accident. All til
miners and others who know Mr.. Carol
vouched for his careful management. ]
will never be known just how the acciier
occurred, but it il certain that no perso
except the victims had anything to do wi.
it..
O'Brien had worked in the mine off an
OF for several years. He was about z
years Of age, a-d was married in Butt
bout a year ago. His wife and bah,
a few weeks old, live in Centerville. Lvnc
was about As years old, and worked 8
mining for four cen wears. the last our
which were SPENT in the St. Lawrence. n
came here from Nevada. He leaves for
sons and two daughters. Two OF the so,
worked in the mine with him. Both tt
deceased were highly respected by all wh
knew them.
As it was impossible to identify any
the remains except the scalps, it was deci'
ed to put one scalp in each coffin, an
divide the other fragraments equally.
THE E
will take place to-day at 2 o'clock fro1
their respective residences; that OF Tim
thy Lynch from Dnblin Gu'ch and DAM
O'Brien from Centerville. Both were men
bers OF the thiucIs' Union, am TimOth
Lynch was q member of the Hibernian.
Division No. /. He will be buried by tt
Hibernians, and the Miners Union are r.
quested to meet at O'Brien'e. The fuuer;
professions will meet in Butte.